Thai Garden was a delicious Thai restaurant in Itaewon. We ordered several different dishes and they were all excellent.

We got a really great chicken and vegetables dish, a green curry a noodles dish, and a soup.

The chicken and vegetables, were delicious. The stir fried vegetables were nice and fresh and the chicken was delicious.

The highlight of the dinner for me was the the green curry. The vegetarian dish was full of flavor and very enjoyable. The soup was also quite fabulous, it was spicy and full of tons of excellent foods. It had a bit of a sour edge to it.

In addition to all this food they were also running a 2+1 on Thai Chang beer. We also shared a bottle of Spanish tres velas red wine. The drinks were on the whole just okay but the 2+1 was a nice touch.

The service on the other hand was exceptional. The waiter was a Thai gentleman who was super friendly. They let us stay a good deal past closing time to finish our food. We were given a private room for our dinner of four.

I’d highly recommend a trip to the Thai garden in Itaewon. It’s just down exit two after about a five minute walk lok up to the second floor. I’ve never been to Thailand, so I can’t comment as to the authenticity of the food but my friend seemed to think it was excellent.

Well, that was a wild ride. This week Game of Thrones, the HBO adaptation of the book by the same name came to an end. It started out a bit slow, just like the book, but by the end it was quite amazing.

They made some alternations to the book, but most of them seemed pretty well reasoned. They got rid of a lot of the history of various houses and people’s because it would have been too cumbersome to show on television.

One of two of the characters seemed a bit different than what I expected. I thought Tywin Lannister would be quite a bit different. But they nailed my favorites, Jon Snow, Ned Stark, Danerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister were dead on.

The show, because the novel was so deft at this, really does a good job of turning the fantasy conventions on its head. I mean they killed off like several major characters in the first book. King Robert dead, Khal Drogo dead, Ned Stark dead and in Robert’s place are five seperate claimants to the throne.

Budae Jiggae, is something which literally means troop soup. It dates to the Korean war, where soldiers would take their food tins and put them together. I’ve now been to the nationwide chain of restaurants known as Nolboo Budae Jiggae and smoked meat fish several times.

The food is kind of disgusting to hear it described. It’s a bunch of spam and hot dogs and spices, kimchi. All thrown together and put in a pot.

However it’s delicious. It’s meaty and spicy. I get it with a portion of ramen noodles in it and it’s excellent.

Nolboo Buddae Jiggae is everywhere, I’ve probably seen 50 locations since I’ve been in Korea.

Let’s face it, Seoul is a tough place to go out to eat if you prefer not to eat meat.

I’m not a vegan but I went to a vegan dinner in Insadong last night and the food was excellent. The name of the restaurant is Osege Hyang.

I ordered the stir-fried Udong ad split an order of fried kimchi mandu. It was really quite good.

A guy I was with got the vegan barbecue which consisted of thinly sliced tofu seasoned like barbecue. Like all fake meats it got the taste kind of right but the texture of course immediately screamed fake.

Salads and soups were ordered as well. They also started us off with a surprisingly neutral tasting hot tea. It was quite good.

One of the down sides to this place was the seating. It was on the floor and it was quite difficult to manuver yourself. on the ground. On the other hand the decor of this place seemed very nice.

Osege Hwang can be found just a stone’s throw from Anguk Station (line 3).

What the Dog Saw is an anthology of articles by Malcom Gladwell, and because it’s that instead of a book, it lacks the unity of purpose and voice that comprised Gladwell’s previous books.

Instead, what we get with What the Dog Saw is a series of unrelated points that are at times quite entertaining. I especially enjoyed the bit about why there is so litle variety in ketchup but every other food category has been about catering to smaller niches for the last few decades.

The Titular story about how dogs relate to, “The Dog Whisperer was fascinating as well. I’ve never seen the show, but it made me interested in it in a way that I never would have been from descriptions, or allusions to it in South Park.

The problem is that some of the stories just aren’t that interesting. They also sometimes are quite old and draw on old events for inspiration. I just can’t bring myself to care about John F. Kennedy Junior’s plane crash. Maybe I would have when the story was published in The New Yorker, but in 2011 it’s nothing but a distant memory.Read more of this post

So sunday I took my camera and headed for Bonegusa temple. This, one of the most famous of Buhddist temples in Seoul, is located right across the street from the COEX mall.

Now, I’m not spiritual at all but the art and architecture of this place were pretty moving. In the back there is a really remarkable statue of “Goddess of Mercy Buhdda.” It was shockingly tall and very peaceful, for a place right in the middle of a big city.

Another highlight of the trip were two sets of lots of small things. They had a really cool set of paper lanterns.

Another cool thing was a wall of little golden Buddhas. It was really kind of shocking.

To get to Bonegusa temple you just go to Samseong Subway (line 2). Go out Exit #6 and walk till you see it. It took me a few minutes longer than I thought it was.